973.7163 

Oakfeaf,    Joseph   Benjamin 

GOaljn 

National    Union  Convention 

of    I86I4  and  Why   Lincoln 

was   not    nominated   by   ac- 

cS  a mat i on 

LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


National  Union  Convention  of 

1864  and  Why  Lincoln 

was  not  Nominated 

by  Acclamation 


£^*^e 


National  Union  Convention  of 

1864  and  Why  Lincoln 

was  not  Nominated 

by  Acclamation 

% 

BY 

JOSEPH  BENJAMIN  OAKLEAF 
of  the  Illinois  Bar 


Privately  Printed 

CARLSON  PRINTING  CO. 

Moline,  Illinois 

1924 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://archive.org/details/nationalunionconOOoakl 


4  , 


When  the  "Wigwam"  Convention  of 
1860  adjourned  there  was  a  determined 
army  of  men  who  marched  out  with  a  firm 
conviction  that  victory  would  be  theirs  when 
the  smoke  of  battle  should  clear  away,  and 
they  were  not  disappointed. 

The  years  passed  and  the  time  for  calling 
another  convention  was  approaching.  The 
Republican  Party  had  been  in  existence  for 
nearly  eight  years  and  the  result  of  its  policy 
had  been  widespread,  but  the  times  had 
changed.  The  conditions  were  such  that 
politics,  so  far  as  party  name  wras  concerned, 
must  be  laid  aside  and  the  union  of  all 
patriots  was  a  thing  desired  in  order  to  con- 
tinue the  policies  promulgated  at  Chicago 
in  1860.  Someone  must  take  the  lead  and 
it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Republican  National 
Committee  to  solve  the  vexed  problem, 
which  they  did  by  issuing  a  call  on  Febru- 

3 


ary  22nd,  1864,  under  the  name  of  the 
"Union  National  Executive  Committee"  for 
the  convening  of  the  "National  Union  Con- 
vention" at  Baltimore  on  Tuesday,  June  7th, 
1864,  at  12  o'clock  noon.  The  call  was  to 
"All  qualified  voters  who  desire  an  uncondi- 
tional maintenance  of  the  Union,  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  the  com- 
plete suppression  of  the  existing  rebellion, 
with  the  cause  thereof,  by  vigorous  war,  and 
all  efficient  means,  to  send  delegates  *  *  *." 
The  call  was  signed  by  the  members  of  the 
National  Republican  Committee,  with  Ed- 
win D.  Morgan,  chairman. 

The  Convention  met  in  the  Front  Street 
Theater  which  was  crowded  to  the  doors 
with  delegates,  visitors  and  distinguished 
guests.  Upon  calling  the  Convention  to 
order,  Mr.  Morgan  made  a  short  address. 
He  referred  to  the  nomination  of  Freemont 
eight  years  before  and  to  Lincoln  four  years 
prior,  but  the  word  "Republican"  was  not 
mentioned,  nor  was  "Republican  Conven- 
tion" referred  to  by  any  of  the  speakers. 


Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky, 
was  named  as  temporary  chairman  and  he 
delivered  a  strong  union  speech,  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  National  Committee  in  elim- 
inating the  word  "Republican"  was  appar- 
ent when  he  said :  "As  a  Union  Party  I  will 
follow  you  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  to 
the  gates  of  death,  but  as  an  Abolition  Party, 
as  a  Republican  Party,  as  a  Whig  Party,  as 
a  Democratic  Party,  as  an  American  Party, 
I  will  not  follow  vou  one  foot." 


Simon  Cameron,  who  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  Lincoln's  cabinet,  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Convention  and  very  prominent  during 
all  the  proceedings  and  was  on  his  feet  a 
greater  portion  of  the  time  the  first  day  of 
the  Convention,  and  a  question  scarcely 
arose  upon  which  he  did  not  have  something 
to  say,  and  he  was  seeking  to  direct  affairs. 


All  the  delegates  seemed  to  be  at  sea  as 
to  how  to  proceed  with  the  organization  of 
the  Convention.     Much  of  the  work  was 


very  informal  for  all  were  for  Lincoln  except 
one  set  of  delegates  from  Missouri.  (Mis- 
souri sent  contesting  delegates ;  one  set  was 
elected  by  the  Radical  Union  Convention 
and  the  other  by  the  Unconditional  Union 
Party.)  The  Credential  Committee  decided 
in  favor  of  the  Radicals  (anti-Lincoln)  and 
they  were  seated.  It  was  the  wish  of  Lin- 
coln that  the  Radicals  should  be  seated  for 
he  did  not  want  it  said  that  only  those  favor- 
able to  him  were  given  any  consideration, 
and  subsequently  it  was  manifest  that  Lin- 
coln acted  wisely.  The  committee  on  per- 
manent organization,  at  the  evening  session 
of  the  first  day,  named  William  Dennison,  of 
Ohio,  as  President  of  the  Convention.  There 
was  much  discussion  whether  or  not  dele- 
gates from  seceding  states  should  be  seated, 
and,  after  some  wrangling,  they  were  ad- 
mitted. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  Convention, 
after  the  reading  of  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions,  of  which  committee 
Henry  J.  Raymond,  of  New  York,  was  chair- 
man, Mr.  Delano,  of  Ohio,  moved  that  the 


Convention  proceed  to  the  nomination  of 
President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Cameron  came  forward  with  a 
substitute  as  follows:  "That  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, of  Illinois,  be  declared  the  choice  of 
the  Union  Party  for  President  and  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  of  Maine,  be  the  candidate  for  Vice 
President  of  the  same  party."  The  substi- 
tute was  laid  on  the  table  and  before  the 
motion  to  proceed  with  the  nominations  was 
put,  Cook,  of  Illinois,  said:  "I  move  that 
Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  be  declared 
the  choice  of  this  Convention. "  After  a 
great  deal  of  bantering  pro  and  con,  and  a 
variety  of  motions  were  made,  all  tending 
towards  the  same  end,  but  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  confusion !  Mr.  Raymond  realized 
that  things  were  in  quite  a  tangle,  and  in 
a  well  directed  speech,  brought  order  out 
of  chaos.  He  said,  among  other  things,  "It 
is  very  well  known  that  attempts  have  been 
made,  although  I  believe  without  success,  to 
convey  the  impression  that  the  nomination 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  to  be  rushed  through 
this  Convention  by  some  demonstration  that 


will  not  allow  the  exercise  of  individual 
opinion."  The  Convention  saw  the  logic  of 
his  reasoning  and  his  conservative  speech 
was  received  with  a  great  deal  of  applause. 
The  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  then 
placed  in  nomination  by  Mr.  Cook,  of  Illi- 
nois, and  no  other  nomination  being  pre- 
sented, the  roll  of  states  was  called  and  Lin- 
coln received  484  votes  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
22,  which  22  votes  were  cast  by  Missouri. 
The  Missouri  delegates  had  not  taken  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Convention  for  they 
went  there  with  their  hands  tied  and  if  they 
had  not  been  instructed  to  cast  their  votes 
for  Ulysses  S.  Grant  they  would  have  voted 
for  Lincoln.  When  Missouri  wTas  called  Mr. 
Hume,  of  Missouri,  arose,  and,  after  con- 
sent had  been  given  him  to  speak,  said: 
"It  is  a  matter  of  much  regret  that  we  now 
differ  from  the  Convention  which  has  been 
so  kind  to  the  Radicals  of  Missouri,  but  we 
came  here  instructed.  We  represent  those 
who  are  behind  us  at  home  and  we  recog- 
nize the  right  of  instruction,  and  intend  to 
obey  our  instructions ;  in  doing  so  we  declare 


emphatically  that  we  are  with  the  Union 
Party  of  this  Nation,  and  we  intend  to  fight 
the  battle  through  with  it,  and  assist  in 
carrying  its  banner  to  victory  in  the  end, 
and  we  will  support  your  nominees,  be  they 
whom  they  may."  He  then  read  the  resolu- 
tion adopted  by  the  Missouri  Radicals  at 
their  convention,  and  said :  "In  the  spirit  of 
that  resolution  I  cast  the  22  votes  of  Missouri 
for  the  man  who  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
fighting  Radicals  of  the  Nation,  Ulysses  S. 
Grants 

At  the  close  of  the  call  of  the  States  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  484  votes,  Grant  22  votes,  and 
Mr.  Hume,  of  Missouri,  moved  to  make  the 
nomination  of  Lincoln  unanimous  but  the 
convention  insisted  that  he  must  change  his 
vote,  which  he  said  he  could  not  do,  and  the 
chair  announced  the  result.  Mr.  Hume 
again  attempted  to  make  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  unanimous  but  he  was  met  with 
the  cry  "Change  the  vote"  and  he  then  said : 
"I  am  authorized  now  to  change  the  vote  of 
Missouri  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois," 


and  the  secretaries  then  announced  that  the 
vote  was  unanimous  for  Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  was  in  Baltimore  where  it  was  reported 
that  a  plot  had  been  framed  to  assassinate 
Lincoln  on  his  way  to  Washington,  and 
three  years  later  the  Convention  met  there 
to  renominate  Lincoln.  The  delegates  and 
guests  of  the  Convention  were  treated  with 
great  respect  and  no  anti-Lincoln  demon- 
stration was  in  evidence,  but  it  must  have 
been  a  surprise  to  many  to  find  that  a 
great  number  of  those  who  took  such  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Chicago  convention 
were  absent.  Not  a  member  of  Lincoln's 
cabinet  was  there.  (If  there  he  was  seen 
but  not  heard.)  A  great  number  of  the 
leaders  of  the  1860  Convention  were  absent. 
Evarts,  Greeley  and  Weed,  of  New  York, 
were  missing.  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  was  ab- 
sent, and  so  were  Judd  and  Davis,  of  Illi- 
nois. But  the  Convention  was  not  a  con- 
vention of  politicians.  It  was  a  convention 
of  patriotic  men  of  all  parties  who  were 
determined  that  Abraham  Lincoln  should 

10 


succeed  himself,  and  if  Lincoln  had  not 
interferred,  the  delegates  from  Missouri 
who  were  for  him  would  have  been  seated 
and  then  the  roll  of  states  would  not  have 
been  called  and  he  would  have  been  nomin- 
ated by  acclamation.  Both  sets  of  delegates 
from  Missouri  were  satisfied  with  the  final 
result  of  the  Convention,  and  thus  passed 
into  history  another  convention  which 
played  so  important  a  part  in  the  history  of 
our  country. 


11 


LIBRfcm? 

UNIVERSfTY  OF  WLWm 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

973.7L63G0A4N  C001 

NATIONAL  UNION  CONVENTION  OF  1864  MOLINE 


3  0112  031821744 


